"Jean S. Barto" <jsbarto1[at]cox.net> wrote:

- quote -

The expense is a 2003 return issue as that is when you paid
it.

If you follow the rules for the credit/deduction you take,
then don't worry about the scrutiny. In fact, depending on
how you file they will not know how many classes you are
taking.

bex

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Hello folks--

I paid for college tuition and books for a college course
I'm taking this semester. Because I'm an *early bird* type
of person, I paid these expenses by credit card in December
2003--and the courses started just 2 weeks ago. The course
is a 5 credit Anatomy & Physiology course that is a
prerequisite by the hospital I'm applying to, for a
Radiologic Technology (X-ray Tech) program that begins
September 2004. The total amount I'm talking about now is
around $600.00--although the tuition is reasonable at the
community college I'm attending, the books (and also the lab
specimen (dead cat)) are expensive. Since I'm only taking
one course, and it's expensive, will this fact trigger more
scrutiny of my return than normal?

Should I include these deductions for the A & P course for
2003 or 2004? Like I said, I paid for the books, lab
specimen, tuition, and college parking pass in December, but
started to attend the course 2 weeks ago.

Also, I'm in my late 40's--will being an older student
trigger more scrutiny of my return because of taking an
education credit? I also file a Schedule C because of my
Mary Kay business, and so far (10 years) I haven't been
audited because of that--but I certainly don't want to
*invite* any scrutiny unnecessarily!

I've been doing my taxes with MacInTax/TurboTax since 1987,
so I'm not particularly concerned about *where* the
deduction/education credit goes on the return--I'll just
take it where the software tells me to!

Thanks in advance,

Jean in VA

--
"If you are going through hell, keep going."

Winston Churchill

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